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2 new COVID clusters in Singapore at Changi General Hospital, 105 Henderson Crescent

A man exercises at a fitness corner on June 24, 2021 in Singapore. On June 21, Singapore entered into a calibrated easing of social management measures as local community COVID-19 cases remain under control. (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A man exercises at a fitness corner on 24 June, 2021 in Singapore. (PHOTO: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday (25 June) confirmed 20 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore, taking the country's total case count to 62,513.

Fifteen are local cases in the community. Of them, four – of 12 linked cases – had been placed on quarantine. Friday marks the 61st consecutive day with local cases reported.

The five remaining cases are imported, including two Singaporeans and two permanent residents who returned from India, Indonesia, and the UK as well as one work permit holder who arrived from the Philippines.

"Amongst the new cases today, seven are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 13 were symptomatic," said the MOH.

The ministry also identified two new clusters at Changi General Hospital and 105 Henderson Crescent. This brings the current number of active COVID-19 clusters in Singapore to 39.

The three unlinked community cases on Friday are:

  • a 32-year-old Singaporean man who works as an equipment specialist at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) (fully vaccinated)

  • a 31-year-old Malaysian man who is employed by Fourways as a cleaner at the National University of Singapore’s Prince George’s Park Residence (fully vaccinated)

  • an 84-year-old Singaporean woman who is a retiree; detected when conveyed to SGH for an unrelated medical condition on 24 June

Separately, a 31-year-old male China national who works as a driver with MW Impex has been identified as a workplace contact of a previously reported case but the infected man is not considered as part of any COVID-19 cluster here.

The ministry noted that the number of new cases in the community has decreased from 104 in the week before to 93 in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has increased from 14 in the week before to 18 in the past week.

2 new clusters including at Changi General Hospital

Changi General Hospital cluster (2 new cases, 3 in total): The cluster was first linked to a 35-year-old Singaporean man who works as a porter at the hospital and was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 23 June. The fully-vaccinated man had tested preliminarily positive for the Delta variant.

The two new cases added on Friday are both his workplace contacts:

  • a 67-year-old Singaporean man who works as a porter at the hospital (received first dose of vaccine)

  • a 72-year-old Singaporean man who works as a porter at the hospital (fully vaccinated)

105 Henderson Crescent cluster (6 new cases, 10 in total): The cluster was first linked to a 67-year-old Singaporean man who is a retiree. The fully-vaccinated man was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 17 June.

The six additions to the cluster are all residents of 105 Henderson Crescent:

  • a 70-year-old Singaporean woman who is a retiree (received first dose of vaccine)

  • a 40-year-old Singaporean woman who works as a finance executive at ST Engineering

  • a 45-year-old male Filipino man who works as a maintenance specialist at Air Liquid (fully vaccinated)

  • a 32-year-old male PR who works as a part-time delivery rider with Grab and Foodpanda (fully vaccinated)

  • a 32-year-old female PR who works as an operation manager at Green Mart SG

  • a 45-year-old Singaporean man who works as a manager at Meinhardt Group (fully vaccinated)

Eight cases in this cluster have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Of them. four are fully vaccinated.

Bukit Merah View market cluster: 2 new cases, 87 in total

The cluster was first linked to a 74-year-old Singaporean man who works at a sundry store at the market. The fully-vaccinated man was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 9 June.

The two additions had been quarantined earlier:

  • a 2-year-old male PR who is a student at Hope Child Care Centre at 3501 Jalan Bukit Merah

  • an 11-year-old Singaporean man who is a student at Alexandra Primary School

The MOH said that it is working with the People’s Association for residents of specific blocks within the Bukit Merah and Redhill region to collect antigen rapid test kits from 26 to 27 June at their nearest residents’ committee centre.

"Eligible residents are strongly encouraged to collect and perform self-testing using these ART kits. Residents should refer to https://www.gowhere.gov.sg/art to check on their eligibility and the nearest residents’ committee centre for self-collection," the ministry added.

The MOH is currently investigating multiple cases of COVID-19 infection amongst individuals who reside, work in or visited the region. These include conducting special testing operations for these individuals, as well as deploying wastewater testing in the area.

Apart from the clusters at the market and 105 Henderson Crescent, there are three others in the area at 119 Bukit Merah View, 121 Bukit Merah View and 90 Redhill Close.

'Case 64264' cluster: 1 new case + 1 previously reported, 7 in total

The cluster was named after the case number of a 32-year-old Indonesian woman who is a foreign domestic worker and was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 16 June. She was tested for COVID-19 the day before as part of community surveillance testing for visitors to 115 and 116 Bukit Merah View.

Friday's case added to the cluster is a 30-year-old Indonesian woman who is a foreign domestic worker and a close contact of the older woman.

She was first placed on phone surveillance on 16 June and later on quarantine on 23 June as she is a household contact of a 78-year-old Singaporean woman who is a retiree.

The fully-vaccinated elderly was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 23 June and was on Friday added to this cluster.

99% of total cases have recovered, 4 in ICU

With 21 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Friday, 62,161 cases – or 99.4 per cent of the total – have fully recovered from the infection.

Most of the 139 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, while four of them are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

A total of 178 patients – with mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive – are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

Apart from the 35 patients who have died from COVID-19 complications, 15 others who tested positive for the virus were determined to have died from unrelated causes, including three whose deaths were attributed to a heart attack and another four, whose deaths were attributed to coronary heart disease.

Among the 131 confirmed cases reported from 19 to 25 June, 40 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 77 have tested negative, and 14 serology test results are pending.

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